Theories
This page presents the theories and speculations that have arisen about the Duke Nukem universe. Anything written on this page is not definitely true; it is instead an attempt to explain certain features in the Duke Nukem universe. Relation between the Assault Trooper and Assault Enforcer The Assault Enforcer may be related to the Assault Trooper/Assault Captain, and may even be the same species as them. Relation between the Assault Commander and the Overlord The Overlord and the Assault Commander may be related, and may even be the same species Relation between the Protozoid Slimer and Octabrain Protozoid Slimers may be the infant form of Octabrains, such that a Protozoid Slimer grows up and becomes an Octabrain. The Protozoid Slimer's function may be similar to that of the Facehugger (from the Alien movies). One is hatched from an Egg, and then finds the nearest foe and attacks and latches itself to its face. When the foe is subdued, the Protozoid Slimer transfers an infant Octabrain into the foe's body, which then develops inside the host and then bursts free at a later time. This happens only with babes (possibly because they're female, unlike Duke - other aliens the Protozoid Slimer can affect (i.e. consume) are of unknown gender). This is why babes are often found trapped in slime and vines, and is why an Octabrain often spawns when one is killed (not from the babe, though, due to limitations of the games). Duke Nukem Forever provides a new cycle for it's Octabrains, much closer to Xenomorph Facehuggers from the Alien movies. The Alien Queen lays eggs, which hatch Pregnators, who impregnate captured babes with Octababies. Relation between the various Slimes It is possible that Wallcrawlers, Toxic Slime, and/or Protozoid Slimers are all related in some way. Relation between the alien invaders of Duke Nukem 3D All alien species which invaded the Earth during the events of Duke Nukem 3D may be related, and may even be the same species. Alternatively, all the members of alien species that Duke encounters may be mutated members of other conquered species. The way I see it... The Assault Trooper, Captain, Commander, Battlelord, Overlord, and possibly the Cycloid Emperor, are the same reptilian race - as they all have very similar physical features - and the founding race of the 'Cycloid Empire', but each "caste" is genetically or cybernetically altered in some way. Somewhere along the way they might have come into contact with the Octobrains, and formed some kind of alliance for the Octobrains' intellectual input in the Empire. They attack a planet/ civilization and kidnap its women (DN3D doesn't explicitly state they 'only take the pretty ones', this is said in DNF, but it's more a subjective opinion on Duke's part since he's prone to only notice pretty women - that, and the game doesn't really feature "un-pretty" women anyway). The captive women are transported with the help of the Protozoid Slimers, who enwrap themselves around the women, potentially creating a biosphere to keep them alive in the alien environments (podbabes), and also keeping them "fresh" for later. Based on DN3D and DNF, the 'vines' we see in alien incubators wrap around the captive women, immobilizing them, making it impossible to avoid the Pregnators, who impregnate them with Octobrain semen - hence the presence of the Octobrains in those areas (they guard their potential offsping). Once the incubation process is complete, the Babybrains burst out, and eventually grow into adult Octobrains - if nothing disturbs their aging. In DN3D, the presence of Protozoid Eggs is either a placeholder for the later Pregnators, or the Protozoids (at least, based on the later developments) are there to ensure none of the captive women manage to escape. At least one woman is used to breed the Alien Queen, as seen in The Birth cutscene, though it's unclear where the Drones from the cutscene came from, if there was no Queen prior (or was there, and they just needed a new one? Discuss.) The Protozoid Eggs don't come from the Queen, because she gives birth to the Drones, although the Pregnator eggs do come from her, which again suggests the Protozoid Eggs are a placeholder for the Pregnators, or that it's a different species of Queen alltogether. Now the Drones, to me at least, have always felt like they were robots, biological, but still robots, perhaps they were genetically enginered? Or maybe they're a servile race to the Cycloid. The Assault Enforcer - in my opinion - is not a reptilian, but rather a mamalian creature, it always reminded me of some kind of wolf or lion - its 'leg' even has one of those upper fingers that mamals (dogs, cats) have. The Firefly Troopers have the same body as the Assault Troopers, but their head is more lizard-like, which makes them either a different reptilian race, or a genetically altered 'caste'. The Pig-cops are mutant-humans, obviously. The Turrets and Protector Drones are machines, so their background is pretty simple. Did I miss anything? Category:Disambiguations